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<h2><font color="#008000" face="Arial">Creating mindmaps</font></h2>
<p><font face="Arial">You create mindmaps in &quot;mindmap&quot; mode, which is how 
FreeMind starts up.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Create a new map by opening the File menu and clicking 
New.&nbsp; </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">FreeMind will create a new screen, with an oval in the 
center labeled &quot;New mindmap&quot;. This is the &quot;root node&quot;. You will build your map 
by adding nodes to the root. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">For a look at the screen with a small map, see the
<a href="screen.html">&nbsp;FreeMind interface</a>.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The new root node will be highlighted with gray, which 
means it's currently selected. Clicking on it&nbsp; will open the text for 
editing. Do this and enter a name, such as &quot;My Ideas&quot;, and hit Enter.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">When you right-click on a node, you'll see a context menu 
that offers several options, such as &quot;New Child Node&quot;. Notice that many of the 
options also have shortcut keys.&nbsp; For example, you can add a child node to 
your root node by selecting it and hitting the Insert key.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The root node can only have child nodes.&nbsp; With other 
nodes, you can create sibling nodes (at the same level) or child nodes. Nodes 
are connected by lines known as edges.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">As you build your map, you can set colors, sizes, fonts 
and other attributes to emphasize nodes and edges. For example, you might want 
to highlight all &quot;action items&quot; in red. Nodes can be &quot;folded&quot; or &quot;unfolded&quot; by 
clicking on them. Unfolding a node displays the nodes below it. You can also 
insert, delete and rearrange nodes quickly. See <a href="edithome.htm">Editing 
your maps</a> for details.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><i>Tip: Quickly change to a different already opened mind 
map:<br>
You can right-click on the background and select a different map from the menu.</i></font></p>

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